WASHINGTON – Massachusetts Rep. William Delahunt has decided not to run for re-election.

The seven-term Democrat told the Boston Globe that his decision had nothing to do with politics. He said he had been considering leaving for several years but was talked out of it by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy, who urged him to help pass President Obama's first-term agenda.

"This departure leaves a void because Bill Delahunt is an incredibly strong voice for Massachusetts in Washington," Kerry said in a statement reacting to Delahunt's retirement.Delahunt has come under fire in Massachusetts recently for his handling of a 1986 shooting by Amy Bishop, a University of Alabama professor accused of killing three colleagues this year. At the time of the 1986 shooting, Delahunt was the local district attorney and he accepted the findings of the local and state police that Bishop's shooting of her brother was accidental.

Delahunt's retirement creates a rare open congressional seat in Massachusetts. All of the House members from Massachusetts are Democrats.

The decision to step down by Delahunt comes amid a string of recent retirements in the House, including Rhode Island congressman Patrick Kennedy, who will not seek re-election.

Delahunt, 68, has served in Congress since 1997, but Massachusetts and the political world were stunned in January when a little-known Republican state senator, Scott Brown, upset Democrat Martha Coakley to win the Senate seat held by nearly a half-century by Kennedy.

Delahunt was facing potential challenges from Republicans who have been heartened by Brown's victory in the Democrat-dominated state. Brown won Delahunt's district, which includes Cape Cod and the South Shore area.

Brown's victory inspired several local Republicans, including former state Treasurer Joe Malone and state Rep. Jeffrey Perry of Sandwich, to say they are considering running for Delahunt's seat.

Joseph P. Kennedy III, 29, one of the twin sons of former Rep. Joseph Kennedy II and the grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, said Sunday he had decided against running Delahunt's seat because he wants to remain in his new job as a prosecutor in Cape Cod's Barnstable County. Kennedy had been weighing a race if Delahunt were to decide against seeking re-election.

Norfolk District Attorney William Keating, a Democrat investigating the handling of the 1986 Bishop shooting, is said to be weighing a run were Delahunt to decide against seeking re-election, as are several state legislators.

Delahunt, a liberal voice, was a key player on Coast Guard issues in Congress. He also was active on foreign relations, including Latin American issues. He helped broker a deal to bring discounted oil to the U.S. from Venezuela.

New York Times Displays Shoddy Reporting on Amy Bishop StoryBy Roger ShulerCross Posted at Legal Schnauzer

People hoping to gain a deeper understanding of the recent tragic events on the campus at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) are not likely to find it from reporting in The New York Times, purportedly the nation's leading newspaper.

The Times has invested considerable resources on the UAH shootings, which left three faculty members dead and three others wounded. Much of the reporting has focused on the background of biology faculty member Amy Bishop, who has been charged with capital murder, and the denial of tenure that apparently sparked the shootings.

It's an important national story, and The Times deserves credit for giving it major attention. But the newspaper's reporting on the Huntsville story has been sloppy, superficial, and at times almost nonsensical.

Consider a story titled "A Murder Suspect's Worth to Science," by reporter Gina Kolata. The story focuses on hundreds of comments posted on the Internet about the UAH shootings, some asking questions about the tenure process, some noting the extraordinary stresses of academic life, and some wondering if Bishop was treated fairly and according to procedures.

Kolata dismisses such questions with the following paragraph:

"In fact, scientists who have looked at Dr. Bishop's résumé said they saw no evidence of genius, no evidence of a cure for diseases like A.L.S., no evidence that she even could have gotten tenure at a major university. "

But Kolata relies on a curious set of sources to reach this conclusion, leaving her story with some serious holes for anyone familiar with the University of Alabama System--as I am, having worked there for 19 years.

Consider a number of key points made in the story:

* Kolata dismisses Bishop's research on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease--The article states that Bishop's theories haven't been proven and didn't originate with her. But what is that supposed to mean? The whole idea of research is to work on ideas that haven't been proven. If the idea has been proven, there is no need to research it. And my understanding is that the vast majority of scientific research builds on the work of others. If Bishop was working on an unproven theory, based on the work of the others, she has plenty of company.

* Kolata quotes a scientist who says Bishop's work wasn't groundbreaking: That's not the issue is it? The tenure process is supposed to be about a candidate's potential for contributing to the academic environment. Are we to believe that the University of Alabama only grants tenure to junior faculty members who conduct "groundbreaking" research? If that were the case, there would be few full professors in the UA System.

* Kolata dismisses the number of publications in Bishop's record: But what about the quality of those publications? Tenure is not just about quantity. Did Kolata's sources actually read the articles? And how did Bishop's publications, both in quantity and quality, compare to others who recently have received tenure at UAH?

* Kolata cites a researcher who notes that Bishop doesn't appear to be the senior researcher on her papers: Does this tell us anything useful? How many assistant professors are going to be in the senior position? Don't those spots usually go to someone who already has tenure? Again, does this say anything meaningful about Amy Bishop's qualifications?

* Kolata quotes someone from Columbia University, saying Bishop wouldn't be considered for tenure there: How is this relevant? Bishop was at UAH, not Columbia. How do grant dollars at Columbia compare to those at UAH? Would a junior faculty member at Columbia, an Ivy League school, have a huge advantage over a counterpart at UAH? Almost certainly yes. How does a teaching load at Columbia compare to the heavy teaching load Bishop had at UAH, where she taught five classes? Would a junior faculty member at Columbia have more time for research than a counterpart at UAH? Almost certainly yes.

* Kolata dismisses Bishop's invention of a cell-incubator, quoting scientists who saw no need for it: This conflicts with published reports indicating the invention has generated $1.25 million in investment funds. Apparently, somebody sees a need for it. Did Kolata think to ask some of the investors who seem to consider the invention worthwhile? If the invention was worthless, why did UAH President David Williams say on his blog in fall 2008, "This remarkable technology will change the way biological and medical research is conducted"? Williams has a background in engineering and was a vice provost for research before coming to UAH. Shouldn't he know a thing or two about the potential for new technology?

The tone of the Times' coverage seems to be, "Move along, children, there is no story here, no reason to ask questions about the tenure process or the University of Alabama's handling of this situation." It's almost elitist and condescending toward those who might ask questions about administrators in higher education.

If I were an editor, and Kolata turned in this story, I can think of quite a few questions I would have for her:

* Has she compared Bishop's record to those who did achieve tenure in roughly the same time frame? * Has she tried to get a copy of Bishop's tenure dossier to see what it contained?

* Has she checked copies of the committee comments that led to tenure denial? Are those comments based on facts or objective opinions--or do they reveal signs of jealousy and backbiting?

* Has she, or any other reporter, sought to interview the provost and president about their reasons for denying tenure to Bishop, even though the president praised her in glowing terms less than two years ago?

* Has she looked into instances of employees possibly being treated in abusive and unlawful ways in the University of Alabama System?

* Has she looked into the background of those who served on Bishop's tenure committee? If one or two of them thought she was crazy, what are there backgrounds like? What are their credentials? Do they have DUI's on their records, perhaps affairs with students, research fraud, ugly divorces? What about leaders in the UA System? One member of the Board of Trustees has documented ties to a massive insurance fraud case in Pennsylvania. Have any reporters looked into that?

* How many taxpayer dollars were used to help train and support Amy Bishop's academic career? How did the University of Alabama manage this investment in a valuable human resource?

Bishop has some troubling incidents in her background, and it's important to look into that. But is anyone going to take a serious look at the university's handling of this case?

One of Kolata's "experts" says the Internet comments are a matter of some people "making excuses" for Bishop. How is it "making excuses" to ask questions about the bigger picture here? How is it "making excuses" to see this as a story, not just about one troubled individual, but about a university system that has grown dysfunctional.

After all, we have public statements from a former UAH student-body president saying the university's work environment is "deplorable." Has anyone interviewed him?

Some of the comments at nytimes.com provide more insight on the UAH story than we get from the newspaper's reporting. A reader named Joel, from Huntsville, wrote at No. 25:

"She was screwed over, no doubt about that, but that's no excuse to kill someone else. I was there at the shooting and still having trouble wrapping my mind around it."

Have any reporters tried to contact this guy? Perhaps the best comment I've seen about this story comes from a reader named Adis in Massachusetts, writing at No. 254:

"This is tragic! My condolences to all affected. However, this is an opportunity to review the conditions and processes that have led to this tragedy. How does a faculty member whose teaching evaluations are not below normal, who has produced an article a year, $217,000 in NIH funding from 2008 and an award winning patented product of her research that has attracted $1.2 mill. in investor funds get denied tenure? The academia is a place for knowledge production and not beauty contest where you can just vote down the face or attitude you don't like. These later categories are so subjective and hard to measure that many tenure decision makers have hidden under them to oppress tenure track faculty who don't get along with them. The system is rotten in many places and abuse of power is rife. This is a good time to address this disfunctionality."

Will The New York Times get around to asking such questions and pulling back the mask on higher education's ugly little world, one that is largely funded by taxpayer dollars? A lot of public money was used to support Amy Bishop's training and research. The public has a right to know if that money was used wisely.

Author's Bio: I live in Birmingham, Alabama, and work in higher education. I became interested in justice-related issues after experiencing gross judicial corruption in Alabama state courts. This corruption has a strong political component. The corrupt judges are all Republicans, and the attorney who filed a fraudulent lawsuit against me has strong family ties to the Alabama Republican Party, with indirect connections to national figures such as Karl Rove. In fact, a number of Republican operatives who have played a central role in the prosecution of former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman (a Democrat) also have connections to my case. I am married, with no kids and two Siamese cats. I am the author of the blog Legal Schnauzer. The blog is written in honor of Murphy, our miniature schnauzer (1993-2004)who did so much to help my wife and me survive our nightmarish experience with corrupt judges. I grew up in Springfield, Missouri, and I am pretty much a lifelong St. Louis Cardinal baseball fan. I've lived in Birmingham for almost 30 years and have adopted the UAB Blazers as my Southern college football and basketball team to follow. Also, follow East Tennessee State basketball. An avid reader, both fiction and non-fiction. Influential writers on public affairs are Kevin Phillips, Michael Lind, Thomas Edsall, E.J. Dionne, Molly Ivins, and Scott Horton.

Logged

The number one cause of all human poverty, misery, and death is not global warming. It’s GLOBAL LYING.

The judicial inquest into the 1986 death of Seth Bishop is scheduled to take place over four days in April, a spokesman for Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating said this morning.

Quincy District Court Judge Mark S. Coven will conduct the proceedings from April 13 through April 16 in an effort to determine whether Amy Bishop shot her brother intentionally.

Keating initiated the inquest after Amy Bishop, now a 45-year-old biology professor at the University of Alabama, allegedly opened fire at a faculty meeting last month, killing three colleagues and injuring three others.

After the shooting rampage, details emerged about the 1986 shooting casting doubt on whether it was accidental, as authorities had initially ruled.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- Police in Huntsville used a robot to destroy a suspicious piece of pipe found in the home of Amy Bishop, who's accused of killing three people at the University of Alabama in Huntsville and wounding three others.

Police went to her home Friday with a search warrant and found a piece of PVC pipe capped at both ends. A robot detonated the pipe. Police Supervisor John Turis said it turned out not to be dangerous and there were no bomb-making materials found.

Bishop and her husband were questioned in the attempted pipe bombing of a Harvard professor in 1993. Turis told The Huntsville Times that Friday's search was not related.

Bishop's attorney, Roy Miller, said a computer and video camera were taken during the search.

Former Massachusetts resident Amy Bishop is scheduled to make her first court appearance since she allegedly killed three colleagues and injured three others in a shooting rampage at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Bishop will appear at a preliminary hearing on March 23 to face one charge of capital murder and three charges of attempted murder, according to The Huntsville Times.

It will be the first public appearance since Huntsville police cuffed Bishop and took her into custody after the shootings at a faculty meeting Feb. 12.

Since then, authorities in Massachusetts have raised questions about Bishop's role in her brother's death in 1986 and potential involvement in an attempted mail bombing of a Harvard professor in 1993.

Federal authorities now are reviewing the attempted bombing investigation in which Bishop was questioned but not charged. A judicial inquest is scheduled to begin in Quincy District Court next month to examine the shooting death of her 18-year-old brother, Seth, which authorities had initially ruled was an accident. Bishop shot him with her father's shotgun on Dec. 6, 1986.

Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating, who initiated the inquest, has said the investigation of that shooting was mishandled and he wondered if it had been acted on properly, whether the deaths in Alabama could have been averted.

Bishop, 45, is expected to mount an insanity defense in the Alabama case, according to her lawyer.

LAKELAND, Fla. — A man who police say bought a gun more than 20 years ago that was used last month in a fatal Alabama university rampage is declining to comment on his role.

Donald Proulx e-mailed The Associated Press today to say he had been told not to discuss the matter. He referred questions to law enforcement.

A police investigator told an Alabama court Tuesday that the gun was bought by Proulx in New Hampshire in 1989 for the husband of the woman charged in the Alabama shooting. The investigator said the husband, James Anderson, wanted the gun because of problems with a neighbor.

Former professor Amy Bishop is charged with capital murder in the shooting at the University of Alabama Huntsville that left three people dead and three wounded.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — A professor accused of gunning down six colleagues, three fatally, used a gun purchased in 1989 for her husband and denied killing anyone after the rampage at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, a police investigator testified today.

Amy Bishop, making her first court appearance, was denied bond during a brief hearing. The capital murder case against her was sent to a grand jury.

Looking gaunt and wearing a red jail jump suit, the handcuffed Bishop made no comment during the proceeding.

The Harvard-educated biologist, who is listed as 44 on school records, was arrested shortly after the Feb. 12 shooting that left three dead and three people wounded in a small conference room.

During the hearing, Huntsville police investigator Charlie Gray testified that the gun used in the shooting, found in a bathroom trash can on a floor below, was purchased in 1989 for her husband, James Anderson, through a man in New Hampshire identified as Donald Proulx.

Gray said Proulx told federal agents Anderson, who was living in Massachusetts, asked him to buy the gun because Anderson was having problems with a neighbor and New Hampshire didn’t have a waiting period for gun purchases.

Anderson was not in the courtroom for the hearing. He previously told The Associated Press that he knew about the gun and joined Bishop in target practice.

Gray testified that Anderson, during a taped interview that lasted more than two hours, was not agitated but "seemed calm, she seemed very intelligent" as she denied anything to do with the shooting.

"She said it was no way she was there, no way it happened. ’I wasn’t there.’ That kept being a reoccurring thing throughout the interview," Gray said.

Bishop is charged with capital murder, which can bring the death penalty if convicted, although prosecutors have not made a decision on whether they will seek a death penalty.

Her attorney, Roy Miller, has said he will argue that Bishop was insane. He has told reporters she has shown signs of being unable to relate to reality.

District Judge Ruth Ann Hall issued a gag order last week for the prosecution, defense and law enforcement personnel, barring them from talking to the media. Hall says the order will ensure a fair trial.

At the time of the shooting, Bishop was in her last semester of teaching at UAH, which had denied her the job protections of tenure. Colleagues said she was angry over the tenure decision. The university fired her after the rampage.

Gray testified that Anderson told police his wife "had been a little depressed over tenure but she had been about normal" on the day of the shooting.

Bishop’s arrest after the Alabama shooting led to revelations about her role in other cases, including shooting her 18-year-old brother to death in the family’s suburban Boston home in 1986. That death was ruled an accident at the time and she was not charged, but authorities in Massachusetts have ordered an inquest into the case.

Bishop and her husband were also questioned in the 1993 mailing of a pipe bomb to a medical researcher who had given her a negative job review. They were never charged, but the U.S. attorney in Boston is reviewing the matter.

The gun that Braintree native Amy Bishop is accused of using to kill three colleagues in Alabama was bought for her husband in 1989 when he was feuding with neighbors, just three years after she shot her younger brother to death, prosecutors said yesterday.

Meanwhile, it emerged that Bishop told police she was not present when three co-workers were shot to death in a faculty meeting at the University of Alabama at Huntsville in February. Previously, it was reported that Bishop claimed she didn’t remember the shooting.

Former neurobiology professor Bishop, 45, is charged with capital murder in the killings of three colleagues at the University of Alabama-Huntsville during a Feb. 12 shooting rampage in which three others were injured. In her first court appearance yesterday, a judge ordered her held without bail and her case sent to a grand jury.

Prosecutors said the gun used in the attack was bought by a former New Hampshire man in 1989. Donald Proulx Jr. told federal authorities he bought the gun for James Anderson, Bishop’s husband.

At the time, Anderson told Proulx he was having problems with neighbors, prosecutors said. Bishop and her husband were living in Massachusetts at the time, which had stricter gun laws.

Proulx could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Meanwhile, Huntsville police investigator Charlie Gray testified that Bishop, during a taped interview that lasted more than two hours, was not agitated but “seemed calm, she seemed very intelligent” as she denied anything to do with the shooting.

“She said it was no way she was there, no way it happened. ‘I wasn’t there.’ That kept being a reoccurring thing throughout the interview,” Gray said.

Several neighbors have come forward to say Bishop often called the police over minor issues.

In 1993, federal officials investigated Bishop and her husband after a bomb scare at the home of one of Bishop’s colleagues. No charges were brought, but the U.S. attorney is now reviewing the case.

Meanwhile, local authorities still are investigating Bishop’s role in the 1986 shooting death of her brother, Seth. Norfolk District Attorney William Keating has convened an inquest to make sure that investigation was properly handled.

Yesterday, Tom Pettigrew of Quincy, who said he was held at shotgun-point by Bishop at the auto shop where he worked, moments after she killed her brother, said he received a summons for an April hearing.

1. Complete setup/frame—who told Huntsville authorities to check with Braintree? How come the media was so quick to report suspicious past events in this couple’s lives? This requires false documentation of the gun records.

2. Bishop/Anderson are criminal, lying sacks of beetle dung and have been for a long time.

3. Bishop/Anderson are both MK.

The MK angle lines up with some of the statements. One of the goals of MK is to create assassins. Bishop said that she wasn’t there. This would be completely true to her if she has several alters. All it would take to activate an alter is an intentional or unintentional word, phrase, or gesture at the faculty meeting. Bishop has shown a clear ability to dissociate from traumatic events that she’s involved in—a prerequisite for programming. Her husband has stated that they don’t own a gun while these records show that they clearly do. Bishop/Anderson were heavily involved with neuroscience and had clear associations with Marshall Space Flight Center personnel, who, in turn, had clear medical research contracts with DoD bioweapons facilities. Cathy O’Brien specifically states that she was given a mind-altering drug at MSFC. And history freely admits that Wernher von Braun was both director of MSFC and a former member of the Nazi party and a commissioned SS officer.

Since Judiciaries, due to the collapse of government checks and balances, have not yet legally recognized MK possibilities, the only conclusions left to the courts are either mental illness or malicious intent. Case closed.

Has a government-appointed psychiatrist interviewed or observed Bishop in prison like in the Timothy McVeigh case?

Logged

The number one cause of all human poverty, misery, and death is not global warming. It’s GLOBAL LYING.

I am still thinking the husband is up to no good--from the very first time the man opened his mouth, my instincts told me something wasn't quite right about this man.

Here are my thoughts:

*Could he have been the one to tip off authorities about her brother's shooting 1986?

*When the pipe bomb allegations came up in an interview, he immediately tells them he has a letter that shows both were cleared--yet we have never seen this official letter from the FBI.

*The husband emphatically denies they own a gun.

*Couple of days later, he is quoted by the media as saying he recently took his wife out to the range to practice shooting.

*He doesn't even bother to get her a good attorney, he allows his wife to be represented by a court appointed attorney who first said, he was not going to plea insanity and now, is saying he is leaning towards insanity because she has shown signs of being unable to relate to reality. From day one she denied she had anything to do with the death of her colleagues.

Keep in mind a grand jury only looks at the evidence to see if there is enough there to go to trial with--it does not itself decide guilt or innocense.

Given that Amy was arrested right afterwards, with plenty of eyewitnesses and, one could assume, forensic evidence, one has to wonder about the reasons for the legnthy delay. My guess is they have no real case against her and are hoping to wear her down with abusive Abu Graib-style jail treatment into accepting a a plea deal. Or she will be found 'suicided' in her cell.

QUINCY, Mass. – A former worker at a Massachusetts auto body shop said Tuesday that a woman accused of killing three Alabama university colleagues pointed a shotgun at his chest and demanded his keys shortly after she shot her brother in 1986.

Tom Pettigrew said before the start of a closed-door inquest that he refused to hand over the keys hanging from his belt. The woman, Amy Bishop, then went to the parking lot and started checking car doors just before police arrived and arrested her.

Norfolk District Attorney William Keating called for the inquest into Seth Bishop's death after Amy Bishop was charged with fatally shooting three colleagues at the University of Alabama-Huntsville in February. That shooting brought new law enforcement scrutiny into her brother's shooting in Braintree, Mass., 24 years earlier.

Seth Bishop's death was ruled accidental at the time, but the report from judge presiding over the inquest could potentially be used by prosecutors to pursue a murder indictment against Amy Bishop.

Pettigrew appeared Tuesday at the inquest, but was told he would not immediately be called to testify.

Pettigrew, who was 22 at the time, said Bishop, who was 21 years old at the time, told him that she had just had a fight with her husband.

Prosecutors who handled the 1986 investigation have said they weren't about told the confrontation at the car dealer's body shop.

Investigators looking an old crime scene photo recently discovered a newspaper article about the 1986 killings of actor Patrick Duffy's parents. The clipping, which was near shotgun shells in Amy Bishop's bedroom, described how a teenager shot Duffy's parents with a 12-gauge shotgun and stole a getaway car from an auto dealership.

Keating has said that Bishop's actions at the auto dealership should have led to weapons charges against her.

Those charges, as well as a manslaughter charge, cannot be brought now because of a statute of limitations. The only potential charge Bishop could face is murder, which has no statute of limitations in Massachusetts.

Judge Mark Coven, the presiding judge at Quincy District Court, was conducting the inquest.

Assistant District Attorney Robert Nelson said Tuesday that prosecutors at first intended to call 24 witnesses, but some have died and others could not be located. The witness list has not been made public, but it is expected to include Amy Bishop's parents, Judith and Samuel Bishop.

Judith Bishop was the only other witness to the shooting. She told police in 1986 that her daughter had been trying to learn how to use the shotgun when she accidentally fired it into her bedroom wall. She said her daughter came downstairs for help unloading the gun and again accidentally fired it, right in front of her, as Seth Bishop was walking through the kitchen. A bullet struck him in the chest.

The Bishops have not commented since their daughter was arrested in Alabama.

Their lawyer, Bryan Stevens, did not return a call Monday seeking comment on the inquest. Stevens said earlier that Judith Bishop told the truth about the shooting and will tell the same story during the inquest.

"There's absolutely nothing that will be new. She'll say the same thing in 2010 that she said in 1986," Stevens told The Associated Press in February.

"It was an accident, no question about it," he said.

Robert George, a Boston defense attorney who has been involved in other inquests, said both the judge and prosecutor may question witnesses. Bishop has the right to attend but will not be there because she is being held without bail in Alabama in the Feb. 12 shootings.

The judge later will issue a report and recommendation, which Keating can then use to pursue an indictment or end the inquiry.

The judge is not expected to make findings on any flaws in the original investigation.

"An inquest is to look into the death and investigate the death of Seth Bishop and determine whether murder charges should be presented to a grand jury," George said.

"It is not for the judge to assess blame as to how the investigation was conducted."

QUINCY -- Proceedings are underway in a closed-door inquest at Quincy District Court, where a judge is examining the 1986 killing of Amy Bishop's brother.

Security is tight around the second-floor courtroom, with a court officer standing guard to lock and unlock the door each time someone involved in the inquest enters or exits.

Veteran District Court Judge Mark S. Coven is the judge running the inquest.

Thomas Pettigrew, the auto dealership worker whom Bishop allegedly held up at gunpoint after killing her brother, Seth, inside the family's Braintree home, said before entering the courthouse today that he planned simply "to tell the truth."

When asked if Bishop should be charged in the death of her brother, an incident that was ruled an accident at the time, he said he didn't know.

"We'll find out at the end of the inquest," he said, before a State Police trooper motioned him inside.

Shortly before 10 a.m., Pettigrew emerged to say that he has been dismissed for the day and ordered to return to the courthouse Wednesday. He said he did not testify today.

The 1986 killing has come under intense scrutiny since Feb. 12, when Amy Bishop was charged with opening fire on six of her colleagues at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, killing three of them.

The judge, a prosecutor, and a series of witnesses are expected to try to reconstruct what happened in the Bishop home on the afternoon of Dec. 6 1986, when a shotgun blast left a teenage boy dead, the Globe reported on Sunday.

But while the much-anticipated inquiry may reveal new information about whether his sister, Amy, killed him intentionally, it might not shed any new light on one of the most pressing questions stemming from the case: Did investigators deliberately withhold or ignore evidence, allowing a possible murderer to go free and kill again?

Reporter Donovan Slack is Tweeting updates from the courthouse @DonovanSlack.

Award-winning court and crime reporter Laurel J. Sweet has been featured in the ABC miniseries "Boston 24/7" and the 9-11 documentary motion picture "Looking For My Brother."

The mother of Amy Bishop - the professor accused of gunning down three colleagues at the University of Alabama on Feb. 12 - yesterday underwent a second day of questioning about her daughter’s 1986 shotgun slaying of her son Seth in their Braintree home.

Judith Bishop, 69, of Ipswich, her long gray hair spilling over a black suit, left Quincy District Court Judge Mark S. Coven’s closed-door inquest through a back door, evading reporters. There were no immediate reports on what she was asked or what she testified. Her lawyer did not respond to requests for comment.

The former Braintree Town Meeting member told police in 1986 that she witnessed her son being shot in the chest at point-blank range in the family’s kitchen by her daughter after Amy Bishop had quarreled with her father, Samuel Bishop. Critics have said the Braintree police failed to fully investigate or seek prosecution of the case, ruling it “accidental.”

The inquest into the 1986 shooting could lead to new charges against Amy Bishop and is intended to clarify whether it was mishandled.

At least seven other witnesses called yesterday, including retired Braintree chief of police John Polio, said they were under strict orders from the court not to divulge what they were asked and how they answered.

“We were told not to discuss it by the judge, and I abide by the law. Otherwise, I would have plenty to say,” said Polio, 87, accompanied by his wife, Ginny, 61.

Seasoned prosecutor Robert Nelson, charged with re-examining 18-year-old Seth Bishop’s death by Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating following the Huntsville, Ala., mass killing, said Tuesday he planned to wrap up the inquest today by calling just one witness.

Authorities have declined to confirm whether U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, who was Norfolk district attorney in 1986, will be called to testify. Witness lists have not been released, and Delahunt’s spokesmen did not return calls last night.

Also taking the witness stand yesterday was Brian Howe, a retired state police detective who worked the Seth Bishop case, who declined comment.

Thomas Pettigrew, a mechanic at Dave Dinger Ford 24 years ago, said he testified about his account of Amy Bishop demanding a getaway car from him with the same shotgun she’d just killed her brother with. Afterward, Pettigrew said of Amy Bishop, “She’s crazy - another export from Massachusetts wreaking havoc across the country.”

[Comment: Five single gunshots to the head. This is the kind of amazing marksmanship often seen in these cases.]

She pointed the gun next at Moriarity and pulled the trigger, but the gun jammed and wouldn't fire."She pointed the gun at me again and it clicked," Moriarity recalls. "At that point, I kind of threw myself back into the room and shut the door. As I was doing that I heard 'click, click, click'.".....police searching the building on 12 February had found a 9-milli-metre pistol in a rubbish bin...

[Comment: Well if the gun was a semi-automatic and it jammed, it certainly wouldn't make a ''clicking'' noise when pulling the trigger. In fact the trigger wouldn't move at all. Which leaves a revolver, which does make a 'clicking noise' when all the bullets have been fired, but not in the rare case of a jam. Plus I've never heard of a 9mm revolver. Note the cops identify the weapon only as a 'pistol.' ]

"On 23 March, Bishop appeared in a Huntsville courtroom, handcuffed and dressed in orange prison clothes. During a preliminary hearing, police investigator Charlie Gray testified that police searching the building on 12 February had found a bloodstained woman's jacket and a 9-milli-metre pistol in a rubbish bin in the second-floor toilets of the Shelby Center. Gray also testified that Bishop had told police that the shooting hadn't happened, that she had not been present at the meeting and that "it wasn't her". The presiding judge at the preliminary hearing, Ruth Ann Hall, ruled that Bishop should be kept in custody without bail, and that her case should be turned over to a grand jury, which will examine the possibility of indicting her. That process will take months.

Hall also imposed a gagging order on attorneys in the case. Before that, Bishop's lawyer, Roy Miller, had told the media that he will be mounting an insanity defence, but she could plead in a different way if this case moves to trial. In Alabama, capital murder is punishable with life in prison without parole, or with the death penalty."

Interesting that a judge would impose a gag-order on attorney's in this case?

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A person with knowledge of the case tells The Associated Press that the biology professor charged with killing three Alabama university colleagues has attempted suicide in jail.

The person says Bishop tried to kill herself Friday morning but survived and has been returned to a cell at the Huntsville jail after treatment at a hospital.

The source spoke on condition of anonymity because of a court order barring law enforcement and numerous parties to the case from commenting publicly.

Bishop's husband, Jim Anderson, told the AP he has been kept in the dark and that authorities have not returned his calls.

The Madison County sheriff's office cited the gag order in refusing comment when contacted by AP.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BOSTON (AP) — A transcript and report from an inquest into the 1986 shooting death of the brother of Amy Bishop, a former professor, who is charged in a mass shooting in Alabama, will not be released publicly, a judge ruled Friday.

Norfolk Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Bowen Donovan rejected a request from the Globe Newspaper Co. Inc. to unseal the documents related to an inquest held to investigate the death of 18-year-old Seth Bishop.

Massachusetts authorities began reinvestigating Seth Bishop's death after Amy Bishop was charged in a February shooting rampage at the University of Alabama-Huntsville. Amy Bishop, then a biology professor at the school, is accused of gunning down six colleagues, killing three.

A Massachusetts grand jury on Wednesday indicted Amy Bishop on a murder charge in her brother's death, which had originally been ruled an accident.

Donovan cited a 1969 ruling from the state's highest court that held that all inquests should be closed to the public and the news media.

Bishop had told police who investigated her brother's death that she accidentally shot him while trying to unload her father's 12-gauge shotgun in the family's Braintree home.

After Quincy District Court Judge Mark Coven conducted an inquest in April, District Attorney William Keating convened a grand jury, which indicted her this week.

Federal authorities in Massachusetts also are reviewing their investigation into a 1993 attempted mail bombing in which Bishop and her husband were questioned.

Dr. Paul Rosenberg received two pipe bombs in a package mailed to his Newton home shortly after Bishop quit her job at Children's Hospital following a poor review by Rosenberg. The bombs did not explode, and neither Bishop nor her husband was charged.

On Friday, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, responding to a Freedom of Information request from The Associated Press and other news organizations, released 68 pages of documents from its original investigation into the pipe bombing. The heavily redacted documents did not mention Bishop or her husband by name and appeared to shed no new light on the investigation.

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“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it's an instrument for the people to restrain the government.” – Patrick Henry

Accused mass murderer Amy Bishop was hospitalized yesterday after she tried to commit suicide in her Alabama cell where she is awaiting trial for slaughtering three of her university colleagues, according to family and media reports.

The alleged suicide attempt came two days after Bishop was indicted in Massachusetts for the 1986 shotgun death of her brother, Seth Bishop, in Braintree, which was initially ruled an accident.

The Huntsville Times, citing sources, said Bishop, who is being held at a Madison County jail, cut herself and was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was treated and released.

Bishop’s father-in-law confirmed Bishop was hospitalized and returned to her cell, but said he didn’t know why she may have tried to kill herself.

The newspaper reported that she wrote a note to her husband prior to the attempt.

Bishop’s lawyer, Roy Miller, and her husband, James Anderson, did not immediately return calls for comment yesterday. County jail officials and prosecutors in Alabama could not be reached late yesterday.

Bishop, a former University of Alabama at Huntsville professor, is awaiting trial on charges that she gunned down three professors in a dispute over tenure. She could face the death penalty if found guilty.

Days after she was arrested in February, Braintree police chief Paul Frazier revealed that in 1986 Bishop had killed her brother, then used the shotgun to try and steal a car. He said she was arrested at gunpoint, but released by then-Chief Robert Polio after a cursory investigation.

Frazier’s account differed dramatically from the official state police report, which prompted Norfolk District Attorney William Keating to convene a board of inquiry and eventually impanel a grand jury, which returned the indictment against Bishop on Wednesday.

Amy Bishop tried to commit suicide yesterday in an Alabama jail where she has been held while awaiting trial for allegedly killing three colleagues and wounding three others during a shooting rampage in February at the University of Alabama Huntsville, according to a family member and a person briefed on the incident.

The attempt to kill herself came after Bishop had been told that a Norfolk County grand jury had indicted her in Massachusetts on a first-degree murder charge in the 1986 shotgun slaying of her 18-year-old brother in their Braintree home.

Bishop’s mother-in-law, Sandra Anderson, who lives in a suburb of Montgomery, Ala., said she first learned of Bishop’s suicide attempt from a reporter who called her at home yesterday afternoon. She said she spoke briefly afterward with her son, Jim Anderson Jr., who is married to Bishop, and he confirmed it was true.

She said her son was “not doing well’’ and declined to comment further.

Bishop’s attempted suicide was first reported by television station WHNT in Alabama, which said she was taken to Huntsville Hospital for treatment early yesterday, then turned over to authorities and brought back to the Huntsville/Madison County Metro Jail. The suicide attempt was confirmed to the Globe by a person who was briefed on the matter but was not authorized to speak about it.

The Huntsville Times, citing anonymous sources, reported last night that Bishop cut one or both of her wrists and left a letter to her husband. Authorities at the jail could not be reached for comment.

A spokeswoman for Huntsville Hospital said, “We cannot confirm or deny that she was a patient at our hospital.’’Huntsville lawyer Roy W. Miller, who represents Bishop in the Alabama case, did not return repeated telephone calls yesterday.

Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating announced Wednesday that Bishop, 45, had been indicted on a charge of first-degree murder in the Dec. 6, 1986, slaying of her brother, Seth.

The shooting had initially been ruled an accident by authorities. Keating reexamined the case after Bishop was charged with the Alabama slayings. He concluded in February that evidence that had not been shared with prosecutors after the 1986 shooting suggested Bishop intentionally killed her brother.

Bryan J. Stevens, a Quincy lawyer who represents Bishop’s parents, Judith and Sam Bishop of Ipswich, said yesterday that he did not know whether Amy Bishop made any statements after her indictment in her brother’s slaying.

But he added, “I don’t think there’s any doubt that she considered it to be an accident, and that’s what the family has believed for 23 years.’’

He added: “Amy and her brother were very close. There was no animosity at all between them. There’s no reason at all she’d want to kill her brother.’’

At the time of her brother’s slaying, Bishop told police she took her father’s shotgun, loaded it, and fired a shot into her bedroom wall, then went downstairs to the kitchen and shot her brother in the chest.

She said she accidentally shot him while trying to figure out how to unload the shotgun.

Bishop then fled the home, tried to commandeer a car at gunpoint from a Braintree auto dealership, and trained the gun on police, who eventually persuaded her to drop the weapon, according to police reports from 1986. Bishop was released within hours and did not face charges at the time.

Her mother told police that she witnessed the shooting and that it was an accident.

Bishop, a biology professor, graduated from Northeastern University, earned a doctorate in genetics at Harvard University, then worked in labs at several Boston hospitals. She and her husband moved to Alabama with their four children in 2003.

<snip>The civil suit was filed Tuesday in Madison County Circuit Court and names Dr. Amy Bishop-Anderson and her husband James as defendants.

Named as plaintiffs are shooting survivors Stephanie Monticciolo and Dr. Joseph Leahy as well as their spouses.

The suit claims Dr. Anderson was negligent and wanton when she shot Monticciolo and Leahy on February 12.<snip>

Bishop is being held without bond on a charge of capital murder.

In addition to accusing Dr. Bishop-Anderson of negligence and wanton behavior, the suit also says James Anderson was "negligent in possessing, maintaining, controlling or failing to properly store and secure" the pistol used by his wife to shoot the plaintiffs.

The allegations also include that James Anderson knew or should have known that his wife would likely misuse the handgun because of "inexperience, mental incompetency, (or) dangerous temperament."

The suit claims Mr. Anderson's actions were at least partly to blame for the injuries sustained by the plaintiffs. The spouses are seeking damages for loss of comfort and companionship.

Also named in the suit are several unidentified defendants, including any company or person that manufactured, sold, or prescribed any drug, pharmaceutical product, or psychotropic medication to Dr. Anderson.

Anderson remains in the Madison County Jail. No trial date has been set.

"Court watchers have estimated it will take a year to three years for the case to go to trial."

In other words, Amy Bishop, not convicted of anything, could do four years behind bars before she gets her day in court. This makes a mockery of the Constitution, where the sixth amendment guarantees a right to a speedy trial.

The real reason for this, of course, is that it may take that long to 'break' Amy, psychologically and spiritually, before she gives up and accepts a guilty plea. The first thing she needs to do is junk that shyster lawyer of hers.

A year after Braintree native Amy Bishop allegedly opened fire on an Alabama college campus, killing three people, her husband is struggling to make ends meet, her family said.

“He has no income,” said Bishop’s father-in-law, Jimmy E. Anderson Sr., 72, speaking from his home in Prattville, Ala.

Bishop, a 45-year-old biology professor, allegedly gunned down three colleagues at the University of Alabama at Huntsville on Feb. 12, 2010.

Her husband, James Anderson Jr., can’t find work and struggles to pay the mortgage and bills, said Jimmy Anderson Sr. He has provided financial help to his son, who has four teen-aged children with Bishop. Bishop’s parents are paying for his granddaughters’ college tuition, he said.

He said his son talks to Bishop on the phone, but he did not know how often. He said he is handling life as best he can.

“He’s a very strong individual,” he said.

Bishop and Anderson face wrongful-death lawsuits from families of the murder victims.

James Anderson Jr., who lives in Huntsville, could not be reached.

Bishop’s mother, Judy Bishop, who lives in Ipswich, declined comment.

An Alabama grand jury is hearing evidence in the murder case, and prosecutors have not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty.

1 - Why was the first gunshot not heard and addressed? I mean, guns are loud, and people take notice. If Amy had shot the gun accidentally in her room, any evidence of that? And why the hell did no one else hear it?

Scenario 1BOOM .. WTF .. EVERYONE OK???

Scenario 2.BOOM ......... BOOM .......... BOOM ?

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'We play the game with the bravery of being out of range.' - Roger Waters

Whatever happened two decades ago in Massachusetts is relevant only in that it will be used to defame Amy Bishop now. I seriously doubt they have enough to convict her of killing her brother so long ago.

Donnay wrote Georgiacopguy might know something in this regard. Good question.

During the interview of this process, they might have inquired of she had ever had any other major criminal incidents. She may have been truthful and mentioned the previous incident. If she had, they would have checked her criminal record via ACIC/NCIC. If there was an inconsistency, or even if they just wanted a copy of the report, their next effort would be to message Braintree via NCIC, or direct phone call to request a copy. Given that there are inconsistencies between the officers and what the former chief says, some part of her booking paperwork may have made it onto the NCIC system, which would then show up on her wrap sheet. However I have my doubts about that, as she was a professor, and at some point a background check would be done, and she would have an unadjudicated homicide on her record. So the most likely thing is that she mentioned the previous incident, and additional followup revealed the inconsistency of the story, charges, and whatnot. I've attached a link to a PDF file disseminated by GCIC here in Georgia. It may give you an idea how the criminal database is structured, and what comprises it, and how a rap sheet is formed. If not, I may be able to dig up more files which could help. Let me know if you guys need more.

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The resistance starts here. Unfortunately, the entire thing is moving beyond the intellectual infowar. I vow I will not make an overt rush at violent authority, until authority makes it's violent rush at me and you. I will not falter, I will not die in this course. For that is how they win.

The resistance starts here. Unfortunately, the entire thing is moving beyond the intellectual infowar. I vow I will not make an overt rush at violent authority, until authority makes it's violent rush at me and you. I will not falter, I will not die in this course. For that is how they win.

During the interview of this process, they might have inquired of she had ever had any other major criminal incidents. She may have been truthful and mentioned the previous incident. If she had, they would have checked her criminal record via ACIC/NCIC. If there was an inconsistency, or even if they just wanted a copy of the report, their next effort would be to message Braintree via NCIC, or direct phone call to request a copy. Given that there are inconsistencies between the officers and what the former chief says, some part of her booking paperwork may have made it onto the NCIC system, which would then show up on her wrap sheet. However I have my doubts about that, as she was a professor, and at some point a background check would be done, and she would have an unadjudicated homicide on her record. So the most likely thing is that she mentioned the previous incident, and additional followup revealed the inconsistency of the story, charges, and whatnot. I've attached a link to a PDF file disseminated by GCIC here in Georgia. It may give you an idea how the criminal database is structured, and what comprises it, and how a rap sheet is formed. If not, I may be able to dig up more files which could help. Let me know if you guys need more.

Thank you!

The problem is, from my understand, her records of her brothers incident were expunged. And, it was my understanding that someone tipped off the Alabama police of this incident in Braintree, MA and the Cambridge (alleged pipe bomb) incident as well.

There are lots of loose ends to this case, and like starvosan has said, that for over a year she has been sitting in jail with no charges, and will continue to sit in jail and be denied her sixth amendment right!

The problem is, from my understand, her records of her brothers incident were expunged. And, it was my understanding that someone tipped off the Alabama police of this incident in Braintree, MA and the Cambridge (alleged pipe bomb) incident as well.

There are lots of loose ends to this case, and like starvosan has said, that for over a year she has been sitting in jail with no charges, and will continue to sit in jail and be denied her sixth amendment right!

Holy crap... I was wondering why she looked familiar...I read this thread last year duuuuuuh me... It popped up in my new threads list, I saw the date of Feb 12th, and figured it meant yesterday...didn't look at the full date apparently, So I read along until my name came up, and responded accordingly...although perhaps 12 months too late. My apologies on the less than timely information then. I am still catching uyp as far as reading the thread completely. My GOD, I cannot fathom how they justify holding her this long without a charge.

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The resistance starts here. Unfortunately, the entire thing is moving beyond the intellectual infowar. I vow I will not make an overt rush at violent authority, until authority makes it's violent rush at me and you. I will not falter, I will not die in this course. For that is how they win.

The order was issued before Memorial Day. Combined with an existing gag order for all parties involved in the case, the sealed file effectively cuts off public access to any information about the case, from the scheduling of hearings to questions about evidence.Bishop, a former UAH biology professor, faces a capital murder charge for killing three university colleagues on Feb. 12, 2010. She also faces attempted murder charges for shooting three others at the same faculty meeting on the University of Alabama in Huntsville campus.

Sealing an entire case file is unusual, several legal experts said. Mann's reasoning for the decision is unknown since any motions requesting the move, and his related order, are under seal.

The judge has declined to "comment on an existing case." The Huntsville Times opposes Mann's order and has asked its attorney to contact the court.

"We believe criminal trials should be conducted in public," said Times editor Kevin Wendt. "This was one of the most public, tragic crimes in Huntsville's history, and these proceedings should be conducted openly."

Bishop was indicted in March. Prosecutors said last month that they plan to seek the death penalty against her. Madison County District Attorney Rob Broussard said he could not comment on Mann's decision to seal the file, citing Mann's gag order.

Bishop's lead attorney Roy Miller also pointed to the gag order in declining to comment. Bishop's attorneys have told the court they intend to seek a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.

Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Arlington, Va.-based Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said judicial decisions to seal an entire case file are inconsistent with American law.

"There is a First Amendment-based principle that says American criminal courts are open, period," Dalglish said. "That includes documents in addition to court proceedings. I understand there may be a handful of documents, that the judge - on a motion from the state or defense - may want to seal. But once they decide to go down that road, they have to ensure the sealing or closure order is narrowly tailored. You don't get to shut everything down."

Mann, a former prosecutor and longtime criminal defense attorney, has been involved more than 1,000 criminal case as a lawyer. He is in his first year as a judge, after being elected to a six-year term without opposition last November.

John Carroll, a former federal judge and dean of Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, said a full sealing of a case file is an "unusual act." But he said judges often face difficult tests in ensuring a defendant's right to a fair trial and meeting the requirements for an open proceeding, particularly in high-profile cases.

Judge rejects request to ban public from Amy Bishop trialBy Associated PressFriday, June 10, 2011HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- A judge has ordered that pretrial court hearings in the Amy Bishop capital murder case will be open to the public, but isn’t reversing his earlier order to seal the court records from public view.

The Huntsville Times reports that Madison County Circuit Judge Alan Mann has denied a request by Bishop’s lawyers to keep the public out of the courtroom.

Bishop, a former biology professor, is accused of killing three colleagues and wounding three others during a faculty meeting at the University of Alabama in Huntsville on Feb. 12, 2010.

There is also a gag order in place, common in high-profile cases, which limits what the parties can say.

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Accused UAH shooter Amy Bishop whose capital murder trial was originally set to begin today, has been given a Sept. 10 trial date by Circuit Judge Alan Mann, according to court records. Last week, Mann approved a defense request to continue the case after the defense failed to persuade an Alabama appeals court to order funds be paid to expert witnesses.

Mann issued the order this afternoon setting the new trial date.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Bishop, a Harvard-trained biologist, who is charged with killing three University of Alabama in Huntsville biology faculty colleagues on Feb. 12, 2010. She also faces attempted murder charges for wounding three others in a shooting spree during an on-campus faculty meeting.

Bishop's attorneys are planning a defense of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect and they contend the expert witnesses and related diagnostic testing of Bishop are necessary for their case. Some of the work to be performed cannot be done without upfront payments, they argue. Judge Mann ordered payments be made on three separate occasions, but the state comptroller's office declined, saying Alabama law did not authorize them.

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals ruled March 8 that the payments were not required under current Alabama law.

Kip Kinkel of the Springfield, 0R shooting and Jared Loughner of the Tucson/Giffords shooting also suddenly pleaded guilty after waiting years to go to trial. There is to be a hearing on the facts of the case on Sept 24. I doubt they will address any of the anomalies addressed in the posts above.

It is clear that the proceeding this coming Monday, 28 April, will be nothing more than a show trial:

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2012/09/amy_bishop_will_go_on_trial_mo.html"Because many of the facts are agreed upon in advance by the two sides, (Huntsville Police Department investigator Charlie)Gray will be able to recount conversations he had with other witnesses, describe what the medical and physical evidence shows and outline the sequence of events. ...Normally, objections about hearsay testimony by the defense prevent a witness summing up what somebody else saw or did, but the defense won't object to it in this case."

So it appears most of the actual eyewitnesses will be nowhere near this 'trial.'

"A jury will be selected, hear the evidence - including the fact that Bishop has pleaded guilty to the charges - and be asked to deliberate and reach a verdict. The attorneys on both sides will be careful in selecting the jury to avoid any chance of getting a rogue juror who holds up the process or discounts the admission of guilt. .."

Translation: they don't want anybody who actually wants to see some real evidence.

"Under the terms of the plea, the only available sentence will be life in prison without the possibility of parole, with no right of appeal."

And here I was thinking the right to appeal was a basic constitutional right.

Over two years of captivity and prison “therapy” plus one suicide attempt later, the authorities finally get Amy Bishop, a PhD specialist in NEUROSCIENCE with ties to NASA and the DoD to “get her mind right”.

They must be proud of themselves.

Only select witnesses allowed. Lawyers under gag orders. Show trial quietly conducted after the public has had time to brain-dump. Guilty plea entered on 9/11 of all dates. Jurors carefully picked to ignore the obvious.

Justice is served, rotten and putrid, from the secret landfill to the public’s dinner table.

Bon Appetit, Amerika.

A special shout out to corporate-owned media for making this all possible. Who told you to hype the decades-old Braintree incident again? Even the Braintree PD had forgotten about it.

Nevermind. I guess we’ll never know. You did as you were told. Bravo.

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The number one cause of all human poverty, misery, and death is not global warming. It’s GLOBAL LYING.

Over two years of captivity and prison “therapy” plus one suicide attempt later, the authorities finally get Amy Bishop, a PhD specialist in NEUROSCIENCE with ties to NASA and the DoD to “get her mind right”.

They must be proud of themselves.

Only select witnesses allowed. Lawyers under gag orders. Show trial quietly conducted after the public has had time to brain-dump. Guilty plea entered on 9/11 of all dates. Jurors carefully picked to ignore the obvious.

Justice is served, rotten and putrid, from the secret landfill to the public’s dinner table.

Bon Appetit, Amerika.

A special shout out to corporate-owned media for making this all possible. Who told you to hype the decades-old Braintree incident again? Even the Braintree PD had forgotten about it.

Nevermind. I guess we’ll never know. You did as you were told. Bravo.

Truly disgraceful. We need more jury nullification pushes in this country.

(AP) HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - A former university professor has been sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing three of her colleagues and wounding three others during a faculty meeting.

PICTURES: Amy Bishop gets life for U. of Ala. shootings

The jury deliberated for about 20 minutes before convicting Amy Bishop on Monday. Amy Bishop, a former professor at the University of Alabama in Hunstville, showed no reaction as the verdict was read.

Circuit Judge Alan Mann then imposed the life sentence. Bishop did not speak in court.

The Harvard-educated biologist avoided a death sentence by pleading guilty earlier this month to the shootings at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

However, she was still required to have a brief trial under Alabama law because she admitted to a capital murder charge.

Investigator Charlie Gray and professor Debra Moriarty were the only witnesses to testify during the brief trial Monday for Amy Bishop. Bishop already has pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty, but state law requires a trial because it was a capital charge.

Gray also said police believe Bishop opened fire during the faculty meeting because she was angry over being denied tenure, which effectively ended her career at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

Bishop wore a red jail uniform in court and was shackled at the feet, seated between two attorneys at the defense table. A deputy removed her handcuffs.

Also in court, sitting behind prosecutors, were relatives of the people killed in the February 2010 rampage. At least one of the shooting victims who survived also was present.

Moriarty, now the chairman of biological sciences at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, testified about how a routine Friday afternoon faculty meeting turned into a scene of carnage with no warning. Bishop sat silently at the defense table as Moriarity described the killings, staring either at the table or a prosecutor who questioned her former colleague. She never showed any emotion.

Moriarty testified that Amy Bishop sat unusually silent during a nearly hourlong faculty meeting in Feburary 2010, during which discussions ran from a spring open house to plans for the following fall. People were seated around a crowded conference table in a small room on a chilly, overcast day, she said.

Moriarity said she glanced down at a piece of paper on the table. "And there was a loud bang," she said.

Moriarity said more shots followed in quick succession without Bishop ever saying a word. Moriarity said she was looking directly at Bishop when she shot professor Maria Ragland Davis, who was killed instantly while still seated at the table.

Moriarity said she dove under the table for safety and tried to grab Bishop's legs, but the woman stepped out of her grasp. "I was saying, `Stop Amy, stop. Don't do this. I've helped you before, I'll help you again."'

Moriarity said Bishop pointed the gun at her and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. She said Bishop continued trying to shoot her in a hall outside but the gun had jammed.

Moriarity said she stepped back into the room alone, slammed the door and saw colleagues bleeding and dying all around her. She described a coworker using napkins to try to stop bleeding from the head of Joseph Leahy, who survived and is in the courtroom.

Bishop still could face a trial in Massachusetts, where she is charged in the 1986 killing of her 18-year-old brother. Seth Bishop's death had been ruled an accident after Amy Bishop told investigators she shot him in the family's Braintree home as she tried to unload her father's gun. But the Alabama shootings prompted a new investigation and charges. Prosecutors have said they will wait until after sentencing in the Alabama case to determine whether to put Bishop on trial in Massachusetts.